Education Study Shows Jewish Youths Critical of Religious Schools

Jewish adolescents throughout the country were found to be critical of subject matter taught in the Jewish elementary religious schools they have attended, indicating that “this instruction is often accompanied by poor teaching and uninteresting material that makes for boredom, ” a report of a study released here today, disclosed.

The views of the teen-agers were being distributed today to 250 Jewish educators and communal leaders from 38 key cities in the United States and Canada, who are to participate in the National Conference on Jewish Education, which begins tomorrow at the New York Hilton Hotel. The sessions will continue through Sunday, March 20.

The mandate from the youth is the end-result of an extended study conducted among 1,051 Jewish students by the National Curriculum Research Institute, a division of the American Association for Jewish Education, the convener of the Conference. The survey was made during 1964, 1965, and early 1966 under the supervision of Dr. Judah Piloh, director of the Institute, on college campuses, in secondary schools and summer camps.

HOME INFLUENCE FOUND WANING AMONG JEWISH ADOLESCENTS

One finding, especially disturbing, the report noted, was that the Jewish home, “always considered an impregnable fortress, inspiring and shaping positive ethical standards, ” has been dislodged from its previous position of eminence. “We found that Jewish adolescents, like their peers in the general community, are now in full retreat from the home, which we can no longer consider an important cohesive agent in the Jewish educational process, ” Dr. Pilch said.

On the subject of Jewish religious instruction, the report found that students felt that much of the training “takes the form of religious entertainment, utilizing tranquilizers, and that its instruction is frequently dull and vapid.” Most of the respondents indicated that their criticism did not imply a lack of interest or a negation of Jewish studies. They felt, the research showed, that “Jewish schools must inspire their students to want to live Jewishly and to better understand their role as individuals and members of the group.”

STUDENTS GIVE REASONS FOR DISCONTINUING JEWISH EDUCATION

The study showed that 88 percent of the respondents who continued their Jewish education went to Jewish secondary schools of their own volition, and that only 12 percent were influenced to attend these schools by their parents. Among those who discontinued attendance, 36 percent showed a lack of interest in further Jewish studies, irrespective of experience in the elementary school, and 30 percent discontinued because of conflict with public school schedules.

The students queried, Dr. Pilch stressed, feel strongly that “radical changes” are needed in present-day Jewish school curricula. They believe that instruction should be more selective, in marked contrast to the programs of Jewish education followed during the past quarter of a century. A majority recommended that Jewish schools emphasize and clarify the role of the Jewish people among the nations and religions of the world today, as was done heretofore in regard to the past.

The report disclosed that 49 percent of those questioned opposed mixed dating, with 41 percent favoring it, and 10 percent undecided as to whether they would date persons of another faith. “Since the objective of Jewish education is the preservation of religious and cultural identity, it is evident that this attitude represents an alarming statistic that must be coped with by Jewish educators, “Dr. Pilch asserted, noting that the replies to this particular question conformed to the present-day trend of behavior of adolescents in general.